48 Facts About The Youngest Player To Reach 30,000 Career Points - Kobe Bryant

Bryant is also the all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise history

22 June 2015, 12:57 am EDT By Kamal

Kobe Bryant is the youngest player in league history to reach 30,000 career points. He is also the all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise history. Here're 45 facts about him:

Kobe Bean Bryant is an American professional basketball player, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
He was born in August 23, 1978 and is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Bryant's father, Joe Bryant, was also an NBA player.
His maternal uncle, John "Chubby" Cox, was also an American professional basketball player.
He's been named after the famous beef of Kobe, Japan, which Bryant's parents saw on a restaurant menu.
When Bryant was six, his father left the NBA and moved his family to Rieti in Italy to continue playing professional basketball.
Bryant can also speak fluent Italian and Spanish.

He started playing basketball when he was 3 years old.
Lakers was his favorite team when he was growing up.
When he was young, he also learned to play football and he loved AC Milan.
He entered the NBA directly from high school.
He's played for the Lakers his entire career.
Bryant is 6 feet, 6 inches tall (1.98 m) and primarily plays as a guard.
He's won five NBA championships.
Bryant is a 17-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, and 12-time member of the All-Defensive team.
Bryant has also led the league in scoring twice.
Bryant ranks third on both the league's all-time regular season scoring and all-time postseason scoring lists.
In his school, Bryant was recognized as the top high school basketball player in the country.
He declared his eligibility for the NBA draft upon graduation.
He was selected with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets.
In 1995, at Adidas ABCD camp, Bryant earned the senior MVP award.
He was then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

By winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, Bryant earned himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan favorite.
In his senior year, he was named Naismith High School Player of the Year.
Other than that, he has also been named Gatorade Men's National Basketball Player of the Year, a McDonald's All-American, and a USA Today All-USA First Team player.
In high school, Bryant was also a member of rap group called CHEIZAW. The group was also signed by Sony Entertainment.
Bryant had been accused of sexual assault after having sex with a hotel employee in Edwards, Colorado.
The case was later dropped in September 2004 after his accuser refused to testify.
According to reports, a civil suit was later settled out of court.
From 2000 to 2002, Bryant along with Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive championships.
Shaquille O'Neal was later traded to Miami Heat and Bryant became the cornerstone of the franchise.
During to 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, Bryant led and settled with numerous scoring records in the process.
In 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors. It was the second most points scored in a single game in NBA history.
In 2008, he was awarded the regular season's Most Valuable Player Award (MVP).
Bryant is the youngest player in league history to reach 30,000 career points.
He's also the all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise history.

Bryant has been selected to start every All-Star Game since his second year.
He has won the All-Star MVP Award four times - 2002, 2007, 2009, and 2011. The number makes him for the most All Star MVP Star MVP Awards winner in NBA history.
In 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, Bryant won gold medals as a member of the U.S. national team.
Bryant was named NBA player of the 2000s (Sporting News and TNT).
Bryant was the member of the Lakers teams that won three consecutive NBA Championships from 2000 to 2002.
Bryant married African-American Vanessa Laine, but the wedding was not attended by Bryant's family.
Bryant has appeared in endorsements for companies like Adidas, Sprite, MacDonald's, Upper Deck, Nutella and Russell Corporation.
He has also appeared in his own series video games by Nintendo.
In 2009, rapper Lil Wayne titled a song "Kobe Bryant," and in following year, rapper Sho Baraka released a song called "Kobe Bryant On'em", which was featured in his album Lions and Liars.
Bryant is also the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS), an American non-profit organization that provides comprehensive after-school programs to children in 13 US cities.
Kobe also started the Kobe Bryant China Fund which partnered with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a charity backed by the Chinese government.
Bryant has also established Kobe Inc whose headquarters are in Newport Beach, California.